


those hardest to love (need it most)

by Tempestas_D_Uzu



Series: Inspired by a Song [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Character Death, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Inspired by Music, Kakashi is Tobirama’s grandson, Lauren Aquilina Fools, Namikaze Minato Lives, Older Man/Younger Woman, Original Character(s), Owing Debts to Death is a bad idea, Protective Older Brothers, Rare Pairings, Reborn Harry Potter, Reborn Lily Evans Potter, Snippets, Song Lyrics, Uzumaki Harry Potter, Uzumaki Kushina Lives, Uzumaki Lily Evans Potter, Whoops its a tragedy, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 05:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempestas_D_Uzu/pseuds/Tempestas_D_Uzu
Summary: He had always wanted a family, but for the longest time he had assumed it would be impossible for him; he was nothing like his brother, who loved loudly and freely, instead Tobirama was reserved, more likely to snap than smile. Tobirama was a damaged and dark man, he was a soldier through and through.  It was why Uzumaki Shion took him by surprise.





	those hardest to love (need it most)

_**Those hardest to love need it most** _

 

_(He had expected to die.)_

Senju Tobirama had never expected to live as long as he had; he had never thought he would live past his twenties, and yet he had made it to forty, he had outlived all his brothers and even his nephew, and it would seem his luck had finally run out. He had planned to fight to his death to give his team time to escape back to Konoha, he had named Saru his successor, and he had fought bitterly. He had already been near death, injured during his attempted peace meeting with the Raikage when two of the other man’s shinobi had staged a coup, gathering like-minded individuals to their side to attack the two village leaders, and deciding to be the decoy to allow his students to escape had been an easy choice. Even mortally wounded Tobirama was a fearsome opponent, and he had managed to kill one of the faux-jinchūriki and their weaker followers, when the other got a lucky hit in.

Vision fading, he had prepared himself for death, allowing his sensory abilities to stretch away from the clearing he was in, and he could faintly pick up the six chakra signatures tickling the edge of his senses, moving swiftly towards Konoha. The acidic chakra of the final shinobi was moving slowly and painfully towards him, and moving quickly in their direction was a blinding sunburst.

The sunburst chakra signature swept into the clearing, colliding with the faux-jinchūriki, where the man’s chakra flared briefly in alarm before being snuffed out.

Tobirama forced his eyes open, allowing his senses to return to him, and his gaze took a moment to focus on the blurry figure leaning over him.

It was a girl, an young woman, with an explosion of crimson curls framing her face where uncontrollable hair had escaped the bun on top of her head, a smattering of freckles were painted across peachy skin, and large eyes, the colour of fresh leaves in the summer, peered down at him, on her forehead was a hitai-ate with a golden plate carrying the symbol of Uzu. Their eyes met, and the woman offered him a smile.

“Good to see you’re still alive, Konoha-san.” The Uzushiogakure kunoichi greeted, patting a gentle hand on his damaged chest plate, probing for injuries. “My name’s Uzumaki Shion, I’m here to help.”

 

_**I watched our bodies turn to ghosts** _

 

Uzumaki Shion was an interesting woman, Tobirama could admit as he gingerly leaned against a tree, watching the young woman set up camp, moving with the grace of a dancer. Her battle kimono was dark gray, with billowing sleeves and a dark red obi, and a black flak jacket. Her legs were covered in black tights, and from the raised patterning, Tobirama could assume she wore mesh armour underneath the thin fabric. A katana in a dark red and gold sheath was attached to her obi, and from the way she moved, she knew how to use it, and with the pack on her back, the Nidaime could ascertain that she had been travelling when she had saved his life.

“You’re lucky Hitomi was scouting ahead, or you might just be dead, Konoha-san.” Uzumaki was saying as, with a flick of her wrist, a fire sprang to life, and she went about setting up a spit and pot. Tobirama raised an eyebrow, and the young woman offered him a sheepish smile. “One of my summons. An owl.”

“Senju Tobirama.” Tobirama grunted, and the woman’s smile became more genuine.

“Senju-san, then.” Her smile became a frown as she studied the way he held himself, green eyes flicking across his form. “Sorry, healing isn’t really my specialty.”

“It’s fine.” Tobirama said stiffly, “I can heal myself.”

“But you’re exhausted,” Uzumaki countered, standing to move closer to him. She bit her lip, hesitated, then reached towards him, sliding one of her arms over her shoulder to heave him to his feet with surprising ease to help him towards the fire. “If you want, I have a healing aspect in my blood. Most people find the idea of drinking blood uncomfortable… but if you want it, it can help you heal and regain your chakra faster.”

Tobirama glanced down at the top of her head, absently noting that she was a lot stronger than her tiny frame would have made him believe, and narrow red eyes studied her. He had heard Mito mention that some Uzumaki had blood capable of healing others, but it was very rare, she had absently said only four living members of her Clan had it; her mother, her niece, and two very distant cousins.

He weighed his options, and easily came to a decision as he was lowered onto a log.

“Alright.” It was the most logical choice.

Uzumaki blinked, turning surprised green eyes towards him, before she smiled again, moving back to his side to sit down next to him. She easily rolled her sleeve up, and thrust the exposed flesh of her arm towards him, “It’s not as powerful as my grandmother’s, but it’ll be enough to get you back on your feet.”

“Your grandmother?” Tobirama asked, gently taking the young woman’s arm, turning it over to study the pale skin of her wrist, and he heard Uzumaki laugh quietly at his blatant dig for information.

“Uzumaki Kiyoko.” She told him in amusement, “Now, are you going to do it, or what?”

Tobirama let out a soft snort, and raised the woman’s arm to his mouth.

 

_**Such good friends, it has to end it always does** _

 

Tobirama knew very little about his sister-in-law’s niece, his information about the young woman limited to what Mito told him between letters. Her oldest brother’s youngest child and only daughter was apparently the adventurous sort, with a love for trouble, and, according to Mito, prone to giving her father and older brothers grief with her disappearing acts. A talented kunoichi who had chased off every suitor she had ever received; _a proper Uzumaki_ Mito had laughingly stated.

As they travelled together back towards Konoha, leaping from branches, and dashing across clearings and canyons, Tobirama was surprised to find he actually enjoyed the young woman’s presence and wit, she didn’t shy away from his rather colder nature like many others did, in fact she seemed to find it endlessly amusing, her eyes would sparkle every rime he scowled at her and her lips would quirk with her smothered laughter, which only served to make his scowls deepen, even if he found her lack of fear charming.

He rarely ever met anyone who wasn’t even the slightest bit frightened by his frowns.

It was odd, to say the least, and Tobirama appreciated it.

 

_**That’s the way life is / Do we take that risk?** _

 

The soul of Harry Potter had been through multiple lives in multiple different dimensions before her current, many of which ended painfully early in world-changing ways; it was what Death used her for after all, altering universes where the omnipresent being didn’t much appreciate people fucking around in its domain. Her mere presence had the tendency to interrupt the flow of the time stream it had had its companion entered into, and after all the lives she had experienced, the Master of Death had learned to just roll with everything and enjoy herself in each new life.

Uzumaki Shion, youngest child and only daughter of Uzumaki Junpei, the new Head of the Uzumaki Clan, and his lovely wife Uzumaki Sayuri, born to the Uzumaki vassal Akagawa Clan, grew up loved and doted upon by her mother, father and five older brothers, not to mention her extended family. She grew up wanting for nothing, with her Clan’s beauty and her mother’s almost foreign looks echoed in her face, and acknowledged to carry a powerful, new, and never before seen kekkei genkai that only she and her mother carried, Uzumaki Sayuri’s only awakening after she had given birth to her daughter.

In one life, they could have called it magic outright, but had given it the name mahōton, magical release, in her newest reincarnation.

Senju Tobirama; she knew _of_ the man. He was, after all, one of the reasons why Death was so annoyed with the world of Shinobi. He had created a technique, although flawed, that would bring the dead back to life. Tobirama himself, had never used it after his first successful experiment with the jutsu, but others in the future would use it to interrupt the natural circle of life.

She had saved his life, and as a result, his future was already changing.

(And as Senju Tobirama’s story changed, so did that of his world.)

 

_**And so it all boils down to this / We’ve got our aim but we might miss** _

 

They encountered a search party after three days of travelling together, the small group of Konoha shinobi had been dispatched in hope of retrieving his corpse, and had definitely been pleasantly surprised to see their Hokage very much alive and with an Uzumaki companion at his side.

“ _Shishou_!” Kagami, abandoning any form of decorum whatsoever, had thrown himself forward, attaching himself to Tobirama’s side with a large, un-Uchiha grin on his pale face. “You’re _alive_! Thank Kami!”

Tobirama had rolled his eyes with a long suffering sigh, but hadn’t removed his student. He would never admit it outloud, but he had a soft spot for all of his students, but he had always been closest to his first; Kagami was about as un-Uchiha as they came, but Tobirama could never begrudge the younger man his affection.

With a quiet huff and an almost unnoticeable quirk of his lips, Tobirama patted his apprentice gently on his shoulder.

A few meters behind him, Uzumaki offered him a bright smile, a white owl with golden eyes perched on her arm.

He narrowed his eyes into a glare, and her smile only widened.

 

_**We are too fragile just to guess** _

 

Mito didn’t let him out of her sight for nearly a month afterwards, and as annoying as he found it, Tobirama couldn’t really bring himself to hold it against her, leaving him confined to the Senju compound to work his way through paperwork and begin Saru’s Hokage training. Mito was a powerful kunoichi in her own right, but even the strongest of people had a breaking point, and Mito had only recently lost both her husband and her only child to the war, her father to an assassination, and a large portion of her brothers to various battles. Her womb had been too damaged from turning herself into a jinchūriki to have any more children after Enma; all she had left in the village was her pregnant daughter-in-law, a young granddaughter, and Tobirama himself.

And her niece now as well.

Said cheeky niece was also the reason why Tobirama had _finally_ managed to slip away from his protective sister and the watchful eyes of his students. He had only seen her in passing during the month after his return, having gifted her with a small house on Senju lands until she decided if she would want to stay in Konoha or leave once more, but he had sensed her sunburst-like chakra moving around the village.

He had been going through documents with Mito, plans he had been working on to build larger and better-funded orphanages and transitional houses throughout the village for the number of orphans and refugees caused by the war, when Uzumaki Shion’s distinctive chakra signature had tickled his senses. Mito had found it endlessly amusing when the younger woman had playfully burst into the office after being granted entry, declaring her presence to be a ‘ _jailbreak_ ’, and Tobirama had simply found himself swept along in her presence like a leaf in a fast-moving river.

They had ended up at the small tea house not far from the hot springs, seated across from each other in calm silence as they calmly sipped on their tea. He enjoyed the silence that surrounded them, and the calm hum of Uzumaki’s bright chakra allowed the Nidaime to relax and bask in the warmth of the silent companionship he had found.

(He told himself it would not be a common occurrence)

(He lied.)

 

_**And I’ve been in this place before / Fine as we are but we want more** _

 

The sight of Senju Tobirama and Uzumaki Shion did end up becoming a common sight around Konohagakure. They could be seen exploring the village together, never going to the same place twice in a row, often ducking into stalls or stores that the red haired would point out, or the white haired Senju showing the young woman the various gardens and training grounds inside the walls of Konoha. Every time the taller man would duck his head lower to allow the short woman to whisper something in his ear, the spectators couldn’t quite fight the indulgent smiles that overcame them in the face of their solumn Hokage’s soft lip quirks or quiet huffs of laughter.

The Nidaime’s peaceful happiness around the flame-coloured woman seemed to effect everyone around the pair, the lightness spreading through the village when the pair passed, humour in their eyes.

And slowly ‘Uzumaki’ became ‘Shion’.

 

_**That’s human nature at its best** _

 

They had caught an assassin.

Tobirama, crossed his arms over his chest, ruby eyes studying the kneeling man in front of him coldly, scanning the man’s body to try and distinguish where the would-be assassin had come from. The dark tan he bore could be from anywhere, and the colour of his eyes and hair were an overwhelmingly plain brown. Whoever had hired the man to kill him had had some sort of intelligence on the Nidaime’s skill, because the man had been sporting a sensory suppression seal to allow him to slip under his radar and past the eyes of his guards, and in through his office window.

(Where Tobirama and Shion had been ducked over blueprints for an extension on the Shinobi Academy.)

Shion’s eyes had snapped towards the window to their left that overlooked the garden, and it was her startling reflexes that caught the senbon aimed for his throat, alerting the white haired man to the intruder.

(If there was one thing that the whole situation had taught him, it was that Tobirama had grown much too confident in his unprecedented abilities as a chakra sensor. Something he would need to rectify in the future.)

The man, once his cover had been blown, attempted to flee, but a glowing whip of condensed golden chakra had already wrapped around him, and a jerk of Shion’s hand had sent the man sprawling onto the floor. The guards, alerted by the flare of chakra, had burst in at that time, and Touka had taken great pleasure in searching the would be assassin as roughly as possible for his attempt on her cousins life, ripping the suicide pill fake tooth from his mouth as painfully as she could, and subsequently uncovering the seal inked onto the back of the man’s neck.

“That seal was created by the Uzumaki Clan.” Shion spoke up, squinting at the brisk black strokes as she absently shook out her hand. “But whoever painted this one was _not_ an Uzumaki.”

“How can you tell?” Saru asked.

“It’s a copy,” She explained, tracing one finger across the swirling ink, dark red brows furrowing as sharp green eyes hardened. “Of the official seal example. Every Uzumaki knows that that example is incomplete, to stop new fūinjustsu students from using it to slip away from instructors or cause chaos.” Her lips twitched as if to laugh at a silly memory. “It’s why I noticed something was amiss. It’s not noticeable to people who haven’t been trained to spot the irregularities, but an incomplete sensory suppression seal leaves something like a dark spot to your senses. It stands out because everything emits chakra.” She flexed her hand, nose crinkling slightly in mute pain that made Tobirama’s eyes immediately honed in on it.

It was the hand she had caught the senbon with.

“Give me your hand.” Tobirama said abruptly, and Shion blinked at him in surprise. “You’re been trying to hide it, but you’re injured.”

Shion grinned sheepishly as the taller man strode forward to grasp her small hand, turning it over to study the torn skin on her palm. If it weren’t for the blackened veins surrounding the injury it would have been considered a superficial injury, but as it was, it did not look beneficial to her health.

“ _Poison_.” The white haired Senju stated bluntly, “Deadly from the looks of it.” He shot the prisoner a sharp-eyed glare, and moved to gently tug the crimson haired menace from the room.

“It’s fine, Tobirama-san.” Shion said stubbornly, nose twitching in annoyance. “I want to find out how he got one of my Clan’s private seals inked onto his neck. My hand will be fine by tomorrow night. I’m an Uzumaki – poisons are as deadly as an itch to us!”

“But it is still causing you pain.” Tobirama pointed out bluntly, waving down a passing servant. “Fetch me some clean water and a second empty bowl.” He ordered and the girl bowed respectfully and scurried away.

“It’ll be fine-“

“Let me heal you.” He interrupted, turning red eyes back to meet green, and he saw her hesitate. “I do not want you to be in needless pain when I can help you.” He continued quietly, voice softer as he searched her gaze with his own. “Let me help you.”

She sighed, eyes softening as her lips twitched into a small, helpless smile.

“Alright.”

 

_**What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools? / And all we have we lose?** _

 

She has been in love before, many times.

She’s loved and loved and _lost_ , because every time she falls in love, she knows that they won’t be able to follow her when she moves on to the next life. There is no forever for her, there never has been; it’s the price she pays for the debts she and her mother incurred by her survival when she had still been Harry Potter.

Lily and Harry Potter were trapped in an endless loop of reincarnations, serving Death for cheating it; but Death is fair, they stay together as mother and child in every life, and they’re allowed to live as they want in every life. There’s still tasks for them to complete, things for them to change, but they’re allowed to live each life and make their own choices.

(Because she doesn’t have as large of a debt as her child does, the memories of Lily Evans Potter don’t awaken until the soul of Harry Potter in reborn, but the child remembers it all from a much younger age.)

(They will never join their loved ones in Death’s embrace, not until their debts are paid, but they will always have each other, and that’s better than what Harry Potter had.)

“Let me heal you.” Those ruby eyes are stubborn and searching as he stares at her, a large callused hand gripping her injured one with such a gentleness that she hesitates. “I do not want you to be in needless pain when I can help you.” The stubborn eyes soften into something _more_ , and her breath catches, because she has seen that look in so many other lives before this one, and to see it in such a brilliant, bright man just as stubborn as she it _hurts_ her more than she could ever say.

He may not be aware of it, but she could see it in his eyes; he loved her.

“Let me help you.”

And she might just be a little in love too.

 

_**I don’t want you to go but I want you so / So tell me what we choose** _

 

“You’re in love.” Fuuko tells him one day, an infant Nawaki balanced on her knees, as his niece-in-law stares at him with playful pale green eyes. Her sunny blonde hair had been braided back, out of reach for the grabbing hands of her young son, and Tobirama glances up from where he had been watching young Tsunade try to play poker against Kagami’s daughter, Kaede, and loose miserably against the younger girl every time even though the Uchiha obviously has no idea what the rules of the game even were.

(Tobirama blames Hashirama for Tsunade’s bad habits, he should have put his foot down with the girl more often, instead of caving every time she had given him the sad, begging eyes more fitting for a dog than a child.)

The white haired man doesn’t let the woman see how much her words startled him, instead he raised an unimpressed eyebrow, ignoring the mischievous grin the spread across the blonde’s face.

“You’re in love with Shion-san.” Fuuko continued, and Tobirama curses his pale skin because he can feel his cheeks heating up with a dusty blush. “I’ve seen the way you look at her when you think no one’s watching.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” He turned his face away instead, pretending to have dismissed her claims and turned his attention back to the girls. “She’s young enough to be my daughter.”

“But she’s not,” His nephew’s wife pointed out, “And you have obviously given it some thought, or you wouldn’t have tried to cover it up so quickly, Ojisan.”

He had thought about it, plenty of times, but he would never admit it.

“Besides, you’re both adults, and shinobi. What harm would being happy together cause?”

 

_**Friends, I watched us as we changed** _

 

Tobirama had never told anyone of his most well-kept secret, of the thing he had always wanted most in life.

He had always wanted a family of his own; his own wife, and his own children and grandchildren. Tobirama loved children, he loved the innocence in their eyes and the way they smiled at anything and everything, but to him, that life would always be unreachable; it was the life for people like Hashirama, who loved openly and loudly, who didn’t choke on affection or hesitate showing emotion, people who understood emotions and cared for everyone.

It wasn’t for those like Tobirama, the brother in the shadows of such bright people, who did things his older brother couldn’t and made sure that Hashirama’s dreams came before his own. Tobirama understood texts and jutsu better than other people, and just couldn’t find the right way to express himself; his love came in the form of small gestures, of barely-there smiles and indulgent huffs of annoyance instead of biting insults.

He had resigned himself to watching Hashirama’s family from afar, to never have what his older brother had because it had never crossed his mind that he could; Tobirama was a dark and damaged man, with heavy secrets and heavier silences. Even Hashirama, who Tobirama had known had loved him, found the younger Senju brother unnerving.

_What harm would being happy together cause?_

Tobirama didn’t know the answer to that question, and it scared him.

(But he was also a stubborn person, with the curiosity of an _army_ of cats; if he didn’t know the answer to a question, it was basically a compulsive reaction to _find out._ )

 

_**The feelings in my headspace rearranged / I want you more than I’ve wanted anyone** _

 

When Tobirama had sent a politely worded request to Uzumaki Junpei for permission to officially court the man’s only daughter, he had not expected the man’s answer to come in the form of the Uzumaki Clan Heir and his three younger brothers.

He _probably_ should have seen it coming, though.

Uzumaki Akihiro was a tall man, ten years his sister’s senior, with the corded muscles of a fast shinobi, and tanned arms covered in dark black tattoos. His crimson hair was worn to his shoulders, and dark red eyes studied him with sharp intelligence as he sipped serenely at the tea Mito had provided for them during their meeting. The Uzumaki Heir was all quiet confidence and bright eyed intellect, and if they had met in any other circumstance other than Tobirama asking permission to court his younger sister, he could have seen them getting along.

Hayate, three years younger than Akihiro and the second of the Uzumaki siblings, on the other hand, was all fiery anger and loud declarations, and was slouched behind his older brother, arms crossed over his broad chest as a single dark green eye glowered at him from a scarred face. His crimson hair was cut nearly down to the scalp, missing in some places where scar tissue prevented more growth.

It was obvious that if Hayate went for the kill, Akihiro would be the one to dispose of what remained of his brother’s victims.

After Hayate, four years his junior, came identical twins Kaito and Kouta. The twins were made of deceptively innocent smiles and mischievous red eyes, and the only visible difference between them was the parting of their curly dark red hair. They were smaller than Akihiro, and thinner than the muscular Hayate, and seemed to be the only ones not planning on killing him or hiding his body. No, instead they’d make sure he lived a life paranoid that they would get him one day, but it wasn’t death he had to fear from the brothers closest to Shion’s age.

“ _So_ ,” Akihiro hummed, gently placing his cup down. “You want to court my imouto.” He blinked calmly as his brothers bristled behind him, and a slow, tooth-filled smile was shown to the Nidaime Hokage as long fingers tapped against the ceramic of his tea cup. “Chichi-sama sent us to… _meet you._ ”

(And for the rest of his life, Tobirama stayed steadfast in his decision not to speak of the following conversation to anyone.)

( _Ever_.)

 

_**Isn’t that dangerous?** _

 

“Do you love him?”

“I think so.” Shion looked up from her scroll at her mother’s words to meet the woman’s eyes, identical to her own, and offer her a small smile and a self-deprecating shrug. “It’s a very familiar feeling anyways.”

Sayuri’s returning smile was as jagged as a broken mirror.

“There’s been a lot, in the past,” Shion continued, turning her attention back to the seal she was painting. “So many that it hurts, and yet I keep doing this to myself. Maybe I’m insane.”

“ _The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result._ ” Sayuri quoted with a small sigh of laughter, and Shion dipped her head in agreement.

“ _Love_ ,” The younger red head sighed, “Such a horrible thing. And yet we do it anyways; it’s dangerous.”

Her mother snorted, “You’ve always had a thing for danger.”

Shion rolled her eyes, ignoring her mother’s statement. “What are you doing here, anyways? I thought you were perfectly happy in Uzu?”

“Oh, I am. Uzumaki’s are such _fiery_ lovers; very passionate, your father.” Sayuri grinned, and Shion choked on her laugh, lifting her brush from the page to stop herself from ruining her hard work. “I came with your brothers.”

“ _What_?!” The daughter spluttered, “What are they doing here?!”

“Why, they’ve come to interrogate your man, Shi-chan!”

(No matter how many lives they had lived, one thing would never change, and that was Lily Potter’s love for teasing her children about their love lives.)

 

_**The anticipation before the kiss / Mirrored in my shaking lips** _

 

It was almost two years later that Tobirama ended up sending yet another letter to Uzumaki Junpei, this one asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage, and he could assume it had been Shion’s mother who had dictated the approval, because there were no thinly veiled threats on his life and manhood, no army of protective red-haired brothers bursting into his office for ‘talks’, and the ceremony itself went by without any problems.

(Shion looked lovely with her hair done up and wearing her pure white kimono, the image would stay with him forever.)

It was only what happened during the reception afterwards that Tobirama tried not to remember, and Shion would forever insist it was _fine_.

(It wasn’t – Saru would have to live with his new fear of tuna for the rest of his life, and Danzo would go on to hold a grudge against anything that quacked.)

 

_**Oh god I feel so unprepared** _

 

Leaned over his paperwork, Tobirama didn’t so much as startle when his wife slipped into the Hokage office through the open window. Her sunburst chakra was brighter than usual, a little more chaotic but there was no sign of any pain when the younger woman loosely wrapped one arm around his neck as she leaned against his back and carded her fingers through his messy hair.

“Paperwork, the enemy of man.” She hummed slightly, resting her chin on his shoulder, and the Nidaime’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Anything important?”

“Finalizing Saru’s position as my successor,” Tobirama explained, red eyes scanning over lines of political jargon as he lifted his pen to his chin thoughtfully. “These,” He ran a hand over another pile, “Are my retirement forms, Saru’s shown himself capable of being Hokage, and the counsel likes him.”

“He’s very likable.” Shion agreed with a grin, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “But he is a bit of a pushover at times.”

“I’ve agreed to be one of his advisors until he has more experience as Hokage.” Tobirama told her, and she huffed a quiet laugh.

“Under all those grumpy frowns you’re really just a big softy at heart.” The red head teased, “No wonder Tsunade-hime and Nawaki-chan adore you so much.”

Tobirama grunted, but his barely-there smile didn’t waver as he split his attention between the calming strokes of his wife’s fingers moving through his hair and the papers he was filling out on his desk.

“What do you think of having our own?” Shion asked suddenly, and the white haired Senju’s hand paused mid-word, his genius mind quickly translating what she had asked and what it could mean.

Shion had stepped away from him, one arm unconsciously moving across her middle as she watched him with glittering green eyes, and his head snapped around to stare at his red haired wife with uncharacteristically wide eyes.

“Are you…?”

Her smile widened, and she nodded.

 

_**The two of us so out of place** _

 

“Would you have any preferences for names?”

Tobirama turned his eyes away from oyakodon he was preparing to where Shion sat, calmly sipping her tea. She looked slightly uncomfortable, shifting every so often to ease the strain of her swelling abdomen, but she still smiled brightly at him when their eyes met.

“I had never given it much thought.” He admitted, and Shion laughed lightly.

“I was considering naming them after flowers.” The redhead said easily, taking another sip of her tea. “In honour of my mother, and your brother. The Akagawa Clan tends to name their children after plants, and you’ve told me how much of a green thumb your brother had.”

Tobirama found the thought that his wife wanted to honour his brother touching, and he smiled, red eyes softening. “Even if it’s a boy?”

“ _Especially_ if it’s a boy!” Shion laughed into her tea, “Can you imagine how many people would underestimate them if they had a flowery name? So much easier to take people by surprise.”

The white haired man chuckled, “Ingenious.”

“Besides,” Her grin widened, “we’ll have to consider at least two names; both the Uzumaki and the Akagawa are known for having twins. It very common, almost every family has them.”

Tobirama rolled his eyes, letting out a faux-longsuffering sigh as he turned back to the food he was making.

Shion playfully blew a kiss at the back of his head.

 

_**My feelings written on my face / Got what I want but now I’m scared** _

 

Senju Suzuran and Suisen were identical, born with their mother’s unruly mass of curls, only silvery-white instead of red, peachy skin tone, and green eyes set into a face identical to their father’s. The only visible difference between the two boys was the small mole under Suisen’s left eye, a mark Shion liked to affectionately call a beauty mark.

Tobirama gently brushed a finger over his son’s forehead, silently watching the two infants sleep peacefully next to each other.

Suzuran, the lily of the valley, and Suisen, a daffodil. Tobirama could remember enough of Hashirama’s ramblings about hanakotoba to know what their names meant; sweet, and respect.

He chuckled, if his sons took after any of their uncles their names would be very misleading.

(As it turned out, the twins inherited their father’s intelligence, and the Uzumaki mischievousness. It ended up even more chaotic than Tobirama had originally assumed.)

(He hadn’t been surprised when Suzuran married his childhood sweetheart and genin teammate. Brown haired and silver eyed Kurama Kasumi was the right kind of girl for his intelligent and witty eldest son, her quiet confidence and iron-clad will easily balanced him.)

(Suisen, on the other hand, Tobirama had worried about for awhile. He had become an uncontrollable flirt in his teenage years and into adulthood, the younger of the twins was just as intelligent but a little flightier than his brother, never staying in one place for too long and always taking long missions. It was only after one of these missions that his second son brought back the woman he wanted to marry, one Yuki Setsuna, a white haired and blue eyed Hyōton user he had saved from the growing distrust towards kekkei genkai users in Kiri. He had worried for his son again after Setsuna passed on, one of the many victims of the Kyuubi when it had escaped, he had watched his second fall apart and pull himself back together for the sake of his children.)

(In the end, they would be the only two of their children to outlive their parents.)

 

_**What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools?** _

 

Tsubaki joined her brothers two years later; their daughter was the spitting image of her mother, but carried her father’s spiked hair and colouring with pride. Born sickly and without proper access to her chakra coils, the healers had told them that their little girl would not live long, but their little white camellia proved to have taken after her parents in pure stubbornness.

And while she could feel Death hovering around her sickly, sweet, and stubborn daughter, Shion knew her little girl would live a fulfilling life. Tsubaki would never become a kunoichi, her constitution was too fragile, but she would be happy.

(Shion approved of the boy her daughter chose; Hatake Sakumo’s life had the writing of a Greek tragedy, but he was a good, loyal, and kind man who didn’t judge Tsubaki for her inability to wield chakra and loved her nonetheless.)

(She still mourned her daughter’s death when it came, but Shion knew her daughter had been happy. Tsubaki had been told that the chance of her surviving the birth of her son was slim to none, but she was nothing if not pure stubbornness wrapped up in a delicate and pretty little package.)

 

_**And all we have we lose? / I don’t want you to go but I want you so** _

 

The fourth and final of their children came in the form of the red haired, peachy skinned, and red eyed Botan three years after his sister. Their brave little son with such an easy going personality that it was next to impossible to not be friendly with him; he had such a sunny smile that everyone smiled back, no matter how grumpy.

All of her children had a special spot in her heart; her lily and daffodil were her firstborns, her only daughter and wilting camellia, and the final peony who was her baby.

(Brave, sunny Botan who went on to become a teacher at the Shinobi Academy and marry an Uchiha, much to his father’s shock and mother’s amusement. The outgoing warrior who adored children and volunteered at the orphanage, who gave his life sacrificing every last drop of chakra and magic in his body to power a shield that would make sure that no harm came to the children under his watch, leaving his own children without a father, and a wife who never got to tell him that they would be having another child.)

(It broke her heart that so many of her grandchildren were orphans.)

 

_**So tell me what** _

 

Botan was two when Shion learned that she was _finally_ an aunt.

She had been sitting out on the porch, watching Tobirama as he ran Suzuran through katas, Suisen a few meters away from his brother, silver brows furrowed as he practiced the chakra control exercise he had learned in class that day, something that Suzuran had already managed to do. Tsubaki sat beside her, gently fingering the small herb garden Shion had growing while Botan toddled after his older sister, adoration shining in his red eyes.

She saw Tobirama pause, red eyes narrowing as he stared at something off in the distance, “There’s a summon heading this way.”

“Hostile?” Shion asked, hand moving towards her sheathed katana resting behind her, and Tobirama shook his head.

Moments later, a blur dropped from the sky, landing lightly in front of Shion, and the red head blinked in surprise; a small, two-tailed, peach coloured fox with white paws and an Uzu hitai-ate dangling around its neck peered up at her with big brown eyes, a scroll in its mouth.

It was one of Hayate’s foxes.

Shion’s head tilted, and Botan shrieked in delight at the sudden appearance of the fluffy animal.

What was the fox’s name again? Something related to it’s fur…?

“Momo?” She tried, and the fox nodded, dropping the scroll in her lap.

“Hello, Shion-hime!” Momo yipped, tails waving, then turned her eyes to a beaming Botan and a blinking Tsubaki. “Hello kits!” The small fox bounced over to the two children, and was immediately roped into becoming Botan’s newest hug victim.

Shion lifted the scroll, then looked towards her husband and two oldest sons with a smile, “Momo’s one of Hayate’s summons.” She easily broke the seal, unraveling the short scroll to study the words written in her brother’s near-illegible handwriting, green eyes flicking across the page before a large grin overtook her expression and she laughed.

By then, Suzuran and Suisen had moved towards Momo and joined into their siblings’ petting of the peach coloured fox.

“Oh Kami, _poor_ Hayate.” Shion laughed, “He must be so lost!” She shot her husband a smirk, "Hayate’s a father now, Tobi!” Tobirama could stop the snort at her words, and Shion knew the man was remembering her short-tempered older brother. “I guess all of Aki’s nagging for him to get a wife finally paid off, and now he has a daughter.”

“A cousin?” Tsubaki spoke up, and Shion smiled; the only female cousin she had was Tsunade, who was a lot older than she was, and wasn’t at all in stressed in playing with a five year old. “What’s her name?”

Tobirama chuckled at their daughter’s excitement, sliding easily to Shion’s side to press a gentle kiss to her temple and snake his arms around her waist, peering over her shoulder at Hayate’s frantic letter.

“Uzumaki Kushina.”

 

_**Tell me what we choose** _

 

There was a little boy in Fuuko’s arms, a little boy with a feminine face and tanned skin, slanted eyes were the colour of the bluest sky, and his fluffy hair was sunshine blond. He didn’t look older than five years old, and he was so very sad.

(And what a destiny he had – his life force was bright and happy, he would face challenges and heartbreak, but he was destined for greatness.)

Blue eyes blinked up at Shion in innocent surprise, before being drawn to her crimson hair. “ _Pretty_.” The small child mumbled shyly.

“Who is this sweetheart, Fuuko?”

Fuuko smiled thinly, her face drawn and tired. “This is Minato – my little brother’s son. He and his wife were mistaken for shinobi during a border scuffle.” Her voice was monotone, and Shion winced; the relationship between Nations were getting stressed again, and there had been a number of battles breaking out along the borders, something Suzuran and Suisens’ genin team had encountered a week ago that had killed their teacher and landed all three children in the hospital, little Kasumi’s illusions were honestly the only reason why the three of them had managed to get away at all.

Really it was only a matter of time before war broke out again.

Fuuko had lost her husband nearly fourteen years before, and now she had lost her brother.

(A week later, Fuuko lost her son, and her daughter began to distance herself. Tobirama and Shion found themselves taking the young orphan in, raising the child two years Botan’s junior as one of their own.)

(A month later, Senju Fuuko would wander away from Konoha, never to be seen or heard from again.)

 

_**What we choose** _

 

Mito was dying.

Shion sat beside the older Uzumaki, gently running her fingers through her aunt’s long hair. It had once been a shade of crimson to rival her own, but it had begun to gray prematurely, turning a muggy orangey brown.

Mito was dying, and a replacement had to be found to contain the Kyuubi.

Tobirama stood to the side, watching his wife and sister-in-law, a frown tugging on his lips. In sealing the Kyuubi inside of her, Mito had irreparably damaged her chakra coils, and shortened her own life because her coils had already fully developed when she had captured the chakra demon, infusing it’s poisonous chakra with hers. For what evidence showed, they needed someone without fully developed coils, which would mean a child; either an infant, or a child with very powerful chakra already.

The only people that fit that description were the Uzumaki.

None of his children weren’t powerful enough to hold back the chakra demon without damaging themselves, the could serve if there was no one else, and they’d do it willingly too. As would Shion, if it was needed.

“We’ll need to send a message to the Uzukage.” Tobirama said quietly, and both Uzumaki–Senju women glanced at him; Shion looked sad, and Mito resigned.

 

_**What we choose** _

 

Kushina had a hard time fitting in; Shion had known it would happen, Konoha was different from Uzushio, it wasn’t a village populated mostly by short-tempered redheads surrounded by whirlpools. Instead, what would have made her niece fit in in Uzushiogakure, made her stand out in Konohagakure, and Uzumaki Kushina was nothing if not Hayate’s daughter; the change of scenery frustrated her, the differences angered her, and the fact that she had been chosen to carry the burden of the jinchūriki scared her, and when rolled all together led to Kushina’s overwhelmed tears.

“I didn’t mean to make her _cry_ , Obasan.” Minato sounded like he would join Kushina in crying at any moment, “I meant that her hair was _pretty_.”

Shion knelt beside her niece, gently running her hands through the girl’s hair as she sobbed, Minato standing awkwardly off to the side. It had been his statement of liking the way his classmate’s hair stood out in their classroom that had sent Kushina into hysterics, and the blond boy looked devastated.

“It’s not your fault, Minato-chan.” Shion assured him, “Why don’t you go look for Botan? I’m sure he’d teach you some of the things he learned in class today.”

Minato hesitated, blue eyes straying back to Kushina, “I’m sorry Kushina, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He mumbled, and the redhead sniffled, indigo eyes peering through her arms as she studied him tearfully.

She sniffled again, “Stupid pretty boy.” Kushina muttered, but her crying had subsided.

“Do you want to come bug Botan with me?” The blond eight year old offered hesitantly, and Kushina nodded.

(Shion really wasn’t surprised when her wards began dating, their chemistry was just too strong for nothing to happen between them.)

 

_**What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools?** _

 

The first of their children to die was their only daughter.

Hatake Tsubaki was nineteen when she passed on from their world, having lost too much blood during the difficult and early birth of her son, her body had just been too weak to continue living, even with all the nurses trying to help her, and her last words had been naming the her child.

Sakumo had never been the same afterwards.

Hatake Kakashi was born two months premature, with his mother’s face and hair, and his father’s colouring. He had very much inherited his grandfather’s personality and genius, and was the only of Shion’s children and grandchildren to carry the Uzumaki healing blood. He would grow up never know his mother beyond the stories he was told, he would grow up too quickly and too sad, and he would loose his father to the depression he had fallen into after Tsubaki’s death.

Tsubaki, dead in childbirth.

Sakumo, committed suicide.

And sweet little five year old Kakashi, who had such a kind heart and was so socially awkward, had been the one to find his father’s body.

 

_**And all we have we lose?** _

 

The following years passed, filled with war, and pain, and death. Konoha would go down as the victor in the history books, but it was a hollow victory; everyone had lost someone.

Uzushiogakure had been destroyed, the population slaughtered, and the sudden influx of Death had left Shion woozy and bedridden. It was destined, Death whispered in her ear as she read the known casualties, entire family in Uzushio had been killed, fighting to protect their home as they fell one by one, Konoha unknowing of their plight until it was too late. Your mother hopes you will not join her until you have died a natural death.

The Doomsday Seals around the island had activated the moment no living Uzushiogakure citizen was on the island, keeping Iwa and Kumo from getting the bounty they had been hoping for.

Any survivors scattered to the wind.

 

_**I don’t want you to go but I want you so / So tell me what** _

 

Shion would _not_ allow Minato or Kushina to sacrifice themselves; she had raised those two fools, dammit, and she was not about to sit back and watch them wrack up a debt to Death, even if it were to save the village. She knew what Minato would be planning to use to seal the Kyuubi away once more, and she knew what she had to do to make sure Naruto would not grow up an orphan.

The redhead woman, heart hurting from feeling Botan’s life force slip away, appeared before Minato, Kushina and their newborn son with a soft pop of displaced air, green eyes burning with protective fury staring up at the hypnotized and struggling Kyuubi held down by Kushina’s Chains. She sent a stinging hex at Minato’s hands within a heartbeat, interrupting the blond Hokage’s attempt to summon a Shinigami (the resulting chakra backlash would be painful for the boy, but not deadly), and allowed her chakra to ink itself into the ground.

White-gold swirls spread across the grass like rapid frost, seals centering on Naruto and his parents, and the moment of distraction caused Kushina’s Chains to waver.

The Kyuubi roared, violently freeing a foreleg from the golden chakra chains as hate-filled eyes locked onto Shion’s form – the chakra being knew what she was doing, and Shion knew it would attempt to stop her.

(The Kyuubi was not ready to be free to roam just yet – too hateful and angry, it would wreak havoc on the world and cause untold deaths.)

Shion didn’t even try to stop it, a feral grin spreading across her face as the claw sped towards her-

Red eyes widened - the Fox realized it was playing into a trap-

Too late.

The talon ripped through her stomach, and the Kyuubi didn’t even have time to howl before it’s physical form was ripped apart. The seals lit up with red chakra, flowing into the couple and their son, and Shion dropped, blood bubbling past her lips.

She had given half of the Kyuubi’s chakra to Naruto, the calmer half that would be easier for the boy to learn how to control as he grew, while the other half was split between his parents. Kushina wouldn’t have lived long without the Kyuubi chakra flowing through her, but she was also too weak to even have half of its power being forced back into her body, so the last quarter went to Minato.

Tobirama’s calming chakra signature was heading towards them at breakneck speed, and Shion blinked slowly at the sky. He’d be devastated, she knew, they all would, but she was also confident in her family’s ability to come together; they’d still have each other, and Naruto would have his parents.

(It was October – how ironic – at least it wasn’t Halloween, otherwise she would have laughed, and laughing was a bad idea with a giant hole torn through your body.)

“Shion.” Tobirama’s large hand patted her cheek, and the dying woman forced her eyes to focus on her husband’s face; his eyes were grim, his expression resigned but filled with so much quiet love.

Her lips twitched into a bloody smile, “Love you.” She managed to gurgle trough the blood, and his red eyes saddened as he cradled her head in his hands.

Leaning down, he pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead, and as he did so, Shion could pick out the ragged, “I love you, too.” he whispered.

She choked, vision fading as she felt herself coughing up blood once more, and as her life began to fall away, she felt little droplets of water splash against her cheeks.

She couldn’t be sure who was crying.

 

_**Tell me what / Tell me what we choose** _

 

And the cycle continued.


End file.
